When first collected and identified in the Homestead, Florida area
in 1986, the white footed ant was considered only of minor importance for the pest control
industry. This tiny ant has now become quite a nuisance in at least 8 Florida
counties, 3 of which are waiting for official confirmation. Originating in certain
areas of Japan (Okinawa, Iriomote, southern Kyushu and Nansei Islands,) they were first
accidentally imported into Florida.

White-footed ants have been confirmed in the
following Florida counties:
Dade, Broward, Collier, Palm Beach, Orange and Sarasota

These ants have been reported (but not
officially confirmed) in:
Martin and St. Lucie Counties, Florida.

White-footed ants do not bite or sting, nor have they been reported to cause any type
of structural damage. They are, however, attracted to sweet foods. Thus, it is common to
find them foraging indoors and outside on hedges infested with honey-dew producing insects
such as aphids and scales.Several biological aspects of the white footed ant make a difficult pest to control, almost impossible to totally eliminate from an infested
home:

Estimations vary, but most agree that the average number of ants in a white-footed ant
colony will range from 400,000 to well over 1 million ants. The sheer size
of these colonies puts food at a premium; these pests must forage over a wide range and
feed on several food sources. Colonies tend to be "spread out" as
interconnected satellite colonies.

Approximately one half of the colony is made up of sterile, female workers. These
worker ants forage for food, are responsible for brood care, and nest maintenance.
The other half of the white-footed ant colony is made up of "intercastes."
These are wingless males and females, that in addition to the founding king and queen,
mate and lay fertile eggs. Thus, the reproductive potential of the multiple queen
white-footed ant society is much greater than that of many other ant species.

Like many other ants, white-footed ant colonies produce winged males and females which,
at certain times of the year, leave their nest to start new colonies. This is called
"swarming." Winged females who mate with winged males
during a mating flight found new colonies. Winged males mate once before they die. Winged
females die about 400 days after starting a colony. The queen is then replaced by a
wingless daughter that mates with a wingless male who is capable of multiple matings.

In addition, white-footed ants can initiate new colonies by budding.
Budding is a process where many workers and wingless reproductive males and females
leave the mother nest and crawl some distance to start a new colony. The
wingless reproductives look very much like workers, and in many cases cannot be
distinguished from sterile workers by external appearance. These worker look-alikes,
called intercastes, make up almost 50% of a colony. Thus, mass movements of
white-footed ants carrying their whitish-colored larvae and pupae may be observed during
the budding process.

Workers of many sweet-feeding ants, such as the ghost ant, ingest
liquefied food and carry it within their crop (first of three stomachs) back to the nest.
Within the nest, workers regurgitate this food and share it with members of the
colony that never leave the nest, such as workers tending offspring, the queen, and the
developing brood.
This is why baits are so effective with certain other ant species, but not on
white-footed ants: a worker ingests toxic food and takes it back to the nest
where it is shared with others. As you will see in Feeding
Habits of White-Footed Ants, baits only effect about half of the colony.

Even with only half the colony feeding on food outside the nests, this large
population obviously needs a great deal of food to survive. One of their
preferred foods is dead insects. White-footed ants are strongly attracted to sweet
foods but have been observed in the laboratory feeding on termites and dead cockroaches.
Sources of sugar can be found at many locations within structures and in the
surrounding landscape. Indoor locations include the recycle bin, the kitchen,
pantry, and wherever else food is stored, consumed or prepared. Outdoors, sugary
food sources are found at extrafloral nectaries, within flowers, at wounds in trees, and
as honeydew (excrement from sap sucking insects such as aphids and mealy bugs). With
all of these potential food sources available, it is common to find white-footed ants
foraging indoors and outside. Typically, white-footed ants show up at food
sources in large numbers, resulting in easily observed foraging trails leading to and from
the food. Most foraging occurs at night during the summer, but may be at any time
of the day when temperatures moderate.

White footed ants will protect and feed on aphids and scales which attack certain
ornamental plants. Not only do they feed on these plant pests, but will actually
nurture them, collecting and feeding on sweet honey-dew produced by aphids. This
behavior has been observed in other ant species as well. The alarming aspect
of this behavior in white-footed ants is the abnormally large supply of food needed by the
colony. This "farming" of plant pests can put your ornamentals at great
risk.

White-footed ants are unusual in that food ingested by foraging workers is not
regurgitated, nor is it shared with others. The sterile workers of the
white-footed ant are capable of laying unfertilized eggs. These eggs, called trophic
eggs, are sterile, and are thinner and more fragile than fertile eggs.
Trophic eggs are fed to adults within the colony that are not actively foraging and also
to the developing offspring. Therefore, toxic baits affect only those
members of the colony that directly ingest baits. Baits are not shared with the
other half of the colony.

White-footed ant nests have been observed in many locations in the landscape, and in
the home. In Japan, favored nest sites are within old trees. In Florida, trees
also serve as an ideal nesting location. White-footed ants can be found under loose
bark, within natural or artificially created cavities in the stem, in rotten trunks or
limbs, and in galleries created at one time by termites. In addition, white-footed
ants have been observed nesting in attics, under roof shingles, in wall voids, in
cardboard boxes, in the petiole bases of palms, under leaf litter, in compost piles, under
rocks, along fence lines, and in outdoor furniture. Many other damp locations may
serve as suitable nest sites for this species.

Although a colony may be made up of a million individuals, they usually do not all nest in
one location. Colonies tend to be spread out as interconnected satellite colonies.
Therefore, ants within the same colony may be found nesting at several locations
around a structure. Nesting sites usually contain eggs, the developing offspring,
and pupae as well as adult ants.

This small (about 1/8 inch or 3 mm long) ant is easily confused with Crazy ants and Odorous
House Ants if not properly identified. Although the body of the
white-footed ant closely resembles that of the crazy ant, its legs and first segment of
its antennae are much shorter. This ant's body color is darker than that of the
odorous house ant. The white-footed ant (which has one node) has one distinguishing
characteristic which sets apart from similar ants: the tarsi (section at the end of the
legs) are a very light yellow or yellowish white in color. This gives it the
appearance of having "white feet," hence its name. Click on the thumbnail image (above) to enlarge and view the white-footed
ant.

Once White-Footed Ants have infested a structure, it is doubtful that they
will ever be totally eliminated from the building. We can, however, implement
measures to keep existing infestations manageable and help un-infested homes from being
invaded. If you live in an area where white footed ants are a potential problem,
preventative treatments would indeed be wise.Prevention is the
best line of defense against the establishment of any pest insect.

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A concentrated effort (using several different control methods) is your only chance of
getting a handle on white footed ant infestations. This effort is Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) at its best. In this section, we
will cover:

Structural Change:
Relatively small ants, such as the white-footed ant can fit through extremely small
openings to gain access into the home. If these entry points can be located, they
can be blocked by application of caulk or some other exclusion device. This can also
help to prevent other insects from gaining access into your home.
Sanitation can also help to prevent infestation by white-footed ants, as well as other ant
species. Eliminate ant access to sugars within the home. Clean areas where food is
handled and quickly and thoroughly clean up spilled, sugar-based foods. In addition,
store food in containers with tight fitting lids. Also, eliminate potential food
sources outside, such as by controlling pests in your landscape that produce honeydew.
In addition, trim tree branches away from the structure, this will help prevent
ants within the tree from gaining access to the structure. Removal of fallen leaves
and compost piles near the structure has also proven to be an effective sanitation
procedure by removing desirable habitat.

With only half of the colony foraging and feeding on outside sources, ant baits will
not eliminate white footed ant colonies. Baits are sometimes used to help reduce the
visible worker ants (those foraging in the open) inside homes -- but that is all that
baits can do. The interior half of the ant colony (which feeds on trophic eggs) are
not killed by baits because the ant bait is never transferred to them. If you desire
to bait indoors, use either Maxforce
FC Ant Bait Stations, FluorGuard BaitorDual Choice Ant Bait Stations. Outdoors, you
might see white footed ants taking a bait but (just like the indoor baiting) the colony is
not being damaged to any great extent.

Inspect and locate any outdoor colonies on your property and eliminated them by
drenching. Drenching ant beds simply means using enough insecticide solution to the
point of where you are drowning all possible ants in the area. This method works
better than trying to kill the ant bed with sprays or spot-treating with insecticide
granules. Use the same Talstar Concentrate that
you use to spot treat indoors and broadcast outdoors. As little as 1/4 ounce of
Talstar per gallon of water is all that is necessary. A gallon of solution is
required for a mound whose base is one foot in diameter; smaller mounds require less,
large ones require more insecticide solution. Talstar will not leach into water
supplies once it is allowed to dry, making it safer for the environment. Follow
label instructions, keep children and pets off all treated surfaces until dry; the treated
areas will at that time be safe.

A combination of products and methods must be used. Indoor baits might help reduce the
population to some extent but does not really harm the colony.
It seems that the best control is to use the following:
Broadcast Talstar (granules or concentrate) over the
entire property and at least repeat application 3 times each year. Talstar should also be sprayed (with a pump type garden
sprayer) on the exterior and interior of the structure. On the outside, spray every
possible entry point and hiding place, every little crack or crevice where an ant (or
other pests) might enter. Indoors, spray any area where ants are most likely to encounter
the material. Talstar has no odor, is a ton safer than
the harsh Dursban, Diazinon, Spectracide, Rid-A-Bug type products (when used as directed,)
and gives an incredibly long residual indoors and out. Outdoors, Talstar
has been known to kill ants for more than 2 months with one application, if applied
properly.
Indoors, you must also apply a good, safe insecticide dust to any crack, crevice, hiding
place, entry point, wall void or attic -- places where ants are most likely to hide,
colonize, forage for food, etc. Delta Dust is best for killing white footed ants.
Delta Dust should be used where you cannot treat with a spray and where people and pets
cannot come into contact with the material. Dusts (such as Delta
Dust, Drione Dust) are very safe to use, when applied
properly.
In summary, you need:Talstar, Delta Dust, a hose-end sprayer for outdoors, a
pump style garden sprayer for
indoors and outside surface of your home and a Crusader Duster for applying your Delta Dust, which is
water-proof.

Dust all wall voids, cracks, crevices, attics (above and below insulation!),
crawl spaces. Any place where you cannot spray, where people and pets do not contact
but where ants can hide should be dusted. Delta Dust is best for killing ants,
white footed ants and other insects.

2. Document ENY-635, one of a series of the Entomology and
Nematology Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published: April 1998.